Understanding Acid Reflux

What causes acid reflux? If you’ve been dealing with this condition this may be the biggest question on your mind.

Believe it or not, tomatoes and tomato-based foods are prime offenders. Not only do these cause the esophageal sphincter to weaken, they’re acidic.

You might also be surprised to find out that caffeine is high on the list of heartburn causes. This means coffee, tea, and carbonated beverages are all potential triggers of your acid reflux.

Other common foods to watch include fried foods, fatty foods, and even chocolate. Fried and fatty foods take longer to digest than other foods, causing them to sit in the stomach longer. This puts added pressure on the stomach and in turn puts pressure on the esophageal sphincter.

There are also situations that tend to cause acid reflux. For example, eating too much. When the stomach is too full, it puts pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter. Finally, if you tend to lie down shortly after eating a meal, this can cause acid reflux.  This allows the contents of the stomach to rise up. These to situations can be easily avoided.

And they be a clue to what causes acid reflux.

Now, this will probably sound odd to you, because they’re often mistaken for the same thing, but one of the most common acid reflux symptoms is actually heartburn. This is a burning sensation in your chest that occurs after eating. It can last a number of hours and become worse if you lie down after a meal. The burning can also move up into the throat area, and can be accompanied by a sour taste in the mouth, as if food was rising from the stomach back to the throat.

Other acid reflux symptoms can include a dry, lingering cough; getting up in the morning with hoarseness; and the feeling that food is not properly going all the way down. These symptoms can become severe enough in some cases to cause vomiting.

If the disease progresses without treatment to the point of damage to the larynx, respiratory problems can develop and medical intervention becomes necessary. In addition, if scar tissue builds up in the esophagus, swallowing can become difficult.

If there’s an alternative to taking medications, most doctors will prefer to explore the alternative first. This is true for acid reflux, too. Most doctors will suggest that you first try to make some minor lifestyle changes. Adopting an acid reflux diet is a useful and simple change you can try first.

Here are some diet tips that make a big difference in how often you experience acid reflux and the severity of your episodes.

Drop Some of Those Extra Pounds

If you’re overweight, you’re much more vulnerable to acid reflux. If you reduce your weight as little as 10%, you may very well noticeably improve your symptoms. Reducing your caloric intake and adding a little exercise to your daily routine should quickly get your weight under control.

Avoid Large Meals

Most acid reflux diets call for eating several small meals a day instead of three big ones. In addition, you want to avoid eating shortly before bed. The reason for this is simple … your stomach will immediately begin producing acid to help digest the food. When you lie prone in bed, this acid is far more likely to flow up into the esophagus and trigger another acid reflux episode.

Eat Complex Carbohydrates

After years of being told to avoid carbs, you may be surprised to learn that this is one case where a diet rich in complex carbohydrates can actually help you. Breads and pastas can bind with the acid in your stomach.

Avoid Fast Foods

Most fast foods are high in fat and will encourage acid production.

Limit Or Abstain From Alcohol

Alcohol also increases the production of stomach acid. It may also inhibit the effectiveness of the esophageal sphincter, which is supposed to seal the stomach contents and prevent them from rising back into the esophagus.

Avoid Foods That Stimulate Acid Production

Coffee, tomatoes, citrus fruits, spicy foods, chocolate, and alcohol all stimulate acid production.

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One of the side effects of acid reflux that often isn’t discussed is bad breath. Of course, this may result from eating the same foods that are triggering your acid reflux. For example, when you eat hot and spicy foods, the nutrients enter your blood stream. As blood passes through your lungs and is exchanged for oxygenated air, these nutrients created by the hot and spicy foods can create a foul odor in your breath, often referred to as acid reflux bad breath. But more often, if you’re suffering from heartburn or acid reflux, your bad breath is the natural result of the stomach acid backing up into your esophagus or even into you throat.

This is why you might find that brushing and flossing don’t seem to help as much as you would think. Every night, as you sleep and the stomach acids escape the esophagus sphincter and rise into the esophagus, another round of bad breath is triggered. After awhile, it can become as chronic as your acid reflux.

If you’ve been suffering from reflux disease but aren’t sure if you have bad breath, there’s any easy way to find out.  Simply lick the inside of your wrist and allow it to dry for a few seconds. Once the spot dries, if it has an odor, then you’ve got acid reflux bad breath.

As the pace of life continues to grow faster and more out of control, people are finding it more and more difficult to find the time to plan, prepare, and share their meals. The result can be conditions such as heartburn and acid reflux (also known as GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease).

This occurs when the sphincter found at the bottom of the esophagus does not seal properly, letting acids from the stomach to come up through the esophagus to the throat and mouth. The final result is a persistent burning sensation in the chest and throat, and a sour taste in the mouth.

If this is where you’ve found yourself, there are simple lifestyle changes you can make. One of these is altering your diet. This article is about common foods to avoid with acid reflux.

Unlike what many of us think, it’s not only fast foods and spicy foods that can cause the problem. Many foods and beverages can cause the sphincter in the esophagus to relax, which is why it’s so important to avoid those foods when combating acid reflux disease.

Okay, so let’s take a look at the five primary food groups that are often behind your acid reflux episodes.

Fruits & Vegetables

Onions and potatoes can both aggravate your condition. Most doctors will suggest that you avoid them whenever possible, particularly fried potatoes. Fruits (such as tomatoes, oranges, lemons, grapefruits, and cranberries) that are highly acidic should be avoided too. This includes the often forgotten fruit juices such as orange juice and cranberry juice.

Dairy Foods

Regrettably, milk and dairy products in general, are acid based and will actually aggravate your episodes. Sour cream, ice cream, cottage cheese, milk … these are all dairy products that you should consider either ridding from your diet or at the very least tracking their effects.

Coffee, Alcohol And Other Drinks

As much as you may enjoy drinking, alcohol can present a serious problem for those experiencing acid reflux.This is particularly true for liquor and wine. Try to keep your drinking to a minimum. If you’re a coffee drinker, regrettably, you’re going to have to make some alterations as well. It’s the caffeine that causes the problem. So you’ll also want to try eliminating caffeine teas and hot chocolate from your diet.

Desserts

You’ve already been warned about ice cream. The truth is … desserts in general can aggravate acid reflux.Chocolate, for example, is a big time culprit. So that immediately places chocolate ice cream, chocolate cakes, chocolate icing, brownies and more on our list of foods to avoid.

Fast Foods

Was there ever any doubt that we were going to get to fast foods? The problem, of course, isn’t fast food overall but fried foods, ice cream desserts, milk shakes, greasy burgers and the like. A grilled chicken sandwich, for example, should be just fine. Still, you really need to avoid those French fries, the bucket of fried chicken, the chicken nuggets, etc. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat fast food, only that you have to be far more distinguishing.

While these foods to avoid with acid reflux relief in mind are the most troubling for acid reflux disease sufferers, not all them will have the same impact on every person. Because of this, your doctor will likely suggest that you keep a food diary to identify those foods that are causing you the most difficulty. Frequently distinguishing these foods and adding them to your avoid list can be enough to keep your symptoms in check. This is plainly a much better option that taking medications or undergoing surgery.